SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

years, and that into their large and beautiful rooms, where can be found now the largest line of
fine millinery, ladies’ tailored suits, waists, skirts, furs, neckwear, and novelties.” 85
Before she married, Mrs. Selts trained in the millinery and dressmaking business in
Illinois. When she began her millinery business, she bought her goods from a reliable Chicago
millinery house. For twenty-five years she continued to buy from this same company which was
the largest and best millinery house in the United States. 86 The newspaper article maintained,
“Mrs. Selts attributes a large part of her success to the fact that she made a wise choice in the
beginning and then knew enough to stick to a reliable house. The business made a steady
increase from the very first.” 87 In 1887, her son Henry took over the growing jewelry
department after having studied watch repair for three years. From that point on, the two worked
together in the business. After twenty years in the same location, the business needed more
space, so the Selts Millinery and Jewelry store moved to a larger building that allowed the Selts
to expand their merchandise. 88 Mrs. Selts clearly possessed an aptitude for business; however, it
was also this aptitude for business that led her to divorce her husband.
Seventeen years into her run as a business owner and thirty-one years into her marriage,
Mrs. Ida M. Selts petitioned the Clay Center District Court for a divorce from Mr. Benjamin D.
Selts. In the Court Petition, Mrs. Selts cited abandonment as the reason behind her divorce
petition. She claimed that they had lived together as husband and wife until Benjamin
abandoned her in 1890 during which time she had remained a “good and faithful wife,” a
standard claim in most divorce petitions. 89 In her petition before the court, Mrs. Selts based her
case solely on the fact that Mr. Selts had not been holding up his part of the union. She claimed
85
Ibid.
86
The Times, “It is Historical,” 6 April 1905, 1.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
Selts v Selts, Clay County District Court, Case No. 4386, State of Kansas.
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